/*
 *  Copyright 2010 Ancora Research Group.
 * 
 *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 * 
 *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 * 
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *  limitations under the License.
 *  under the License.
 */

package org.ancora.Partitioning.deprecated.Iterative;

import org.ancora.InstructionBlock.GenericInstruction;
import org.ancora.InstructionBlock.InstructionBlock;

/**
 *
 * @author Joao Bispo
 */
public abstract class Partitioner {

   /**
    * @return the name of this partitioner
    */
   public abstract String getName();

   /**
    * For each accepted instruction, it returns an InstructionBlock, if it gets
    * completed. Returns null otherwise.
    *
    * <p>When an InstructionBlock is returned, it is cleares from the Partitioner
    * memory.
    *
    * @param instruction
    * @param lastInstruction
    * @return
    */
   public abstract InstructionBlock acceptInstruction(GenericInstruction instruction);

   public abstract InstructionBlock lastInstruction();
   //public abstract void flush();
}
